The Once-ler
Welcome to the page of unnecessary gifs. |width = 148px |image = Image:ohmygodwhyamiusingthis.gif |imagewidth = 250px |caption = 'LLLADIES' |Row 1 title = Name: |Row 1 info = The Once-ler |Row 2 title = Age: |Row 2 info = 23 |Row 3 title = Gender: |Row 3 info = Male |Row 4 title = Species: |Row 4 info = Human |Row 5 title = Canon: |Row 5 info = The Lorax (2012 Film) |Row 6 title = Room Number: |Row 6 info = 4119 |Row 7 title = Death(s): |Row 7 info = 1 |Row 8 title = Punishment(s): |Row 8 info = 0 |Row 9 title = Journal: |Row 9 info = Yolonceler |Row 10 title = Mun: |Row 10 info = Litzi}} Information Pre-Game History The Once-ler grew up in a farmhouse about a mile outside of a middle-class town. His father divorced his mother just after he was born. He, his mother and his two elder brothers moved in with his mother's sister, Griselda, and Griselda's husband, Ubb. His older twin brothers, Brett and Chet, are, in two words, incredibly stupid. Their mother, dreaming of a cushy lifestyle, named her third and final child "the Once-ler", hoping the name would motivate him to be the best (number one!). The Once-ler grew up in an emotionally abusive household, with his mother constantly pushing him to be successful and berating him harshly for his numerous failures. She eventually gave up on him, telling him he would never amount to anything. The Once-ler's entire family has no regard for his feelings and only cares about money. As a child and teen, the Once-ler was too frail to work the farm, so while Brett and Chet did that, he was left to his own devices. He spent his time learning various skills in an attempt to impress his mother. While he was successful at learning, he failed miserably at getting his mother's attention. At school, he would flit from one social circle to another as he changed interests until everyone got sick of him by the age of 14. He was so wimpy and dorky he was bullied frequently, which stopped abruptly when he reached his maximum height of 6'4" at age 16. He graduated at age 17 in the middle of his class. Fast-forward. The Once-ler is about 18 years old, and has designed something called a Thneed. To make it, he needs to find the perfect material. The Once-ler leaves home, a leaving-the-nest sort of thing, and ventures off into the world to find something worthy enough to become a Thneed. He travels for two weeks before he finds a forest of truffula trees—the tufts of which can be easily knitted into Thneeds. The Once-ler decides that This Is The Place, builds his little cottage, and starts making Thneeds. Making Thneeds means cutting down truffula trees, which is bad. The Once-ler cuts down the first tree and summons the legendary Lorax, who speaks for the trees, and tells the Once-ler to leave. The Once-ler insists that cutting down a few trees isn't bad. In retaliation, the Lorax and the other woodland creatures wait until the Once-ler is asleep, then dump his bed in the river. Of course, his bed almost goes over a waterfall. There are shenanigans, and the Once-ler actually dies for a few seconds, but is revived by the Lorax. The Once-ler agrees to not cut down any more trees. The next day, the Once-ler goes into town to try and sell his Thneed. Nobody buys it. Nobody buys it the second day, or the third, or the fourth, or… you get the idea. Frustrated, the Once-ler tosses the Thneed aside and goes back to the forest. The Thneed lands on a woman's head in a rather stylish hat shape. People finally see the Thneed for how great it is, and everybody wants one. The Once-ler calls his family to the forest to help him harvest the truffula tufts. Harvesting the tufts takes too long, so the Once-ler's mother suggests chopping down the trees. The Once-ler agrees, thus breaking his promise to the Lorax. How bad could it possibly be? The Once-ler's business flourishes until multiple factories are built all around the forest. Though in the film this takes places over a few minutes (the catchy musical number linked above!), it actually takes five years. The Once-ler builds more factories and chops down more trees. He is eventually one of the most wealthy and powerful people on the planet. The pollution forces all the animals to leave. The Lorax visits the Once-ler constantly to complain about all the pollution and warns him to stop. Um, no. The Once-ler's little invention became a total sensation, he's on top of the world, and little orange shit is here telling him he's doing more harm than good? Wow, beat it, Lorax. The Once-ler tells the Lorax to fuck off one last time, but as he does, the last truffula tree is cut down. Game History THINGS HAPPENED In reality, the Once-ler's behavior before and during his success is very similar—it's just that when he became successful, his more negative, aggressive traits intensified to fit the portrait of young billionaire. He's always been defensive, he's always been charismatic, he's always been socially challenged, he's always been… kind of a dick, really. Now that he's in the public eye and actually feeling pretty good about himself, he's willing to be more bold with his words and actions. The Once-ler can be very defensive when criticized, especially if he's proud of what he did. It's a hellish mixture of pride and greed that drove him into biggering his company until he could bigger it no more. He is easily provoked and doesn't seem to know when to shut up. The Once-ler is bitingly sarcastic and loves to snark, but he often doesn't realize that his scathing remarks are more insulting than he thinks they are. Though the Once-ler is charismatic, he has crippling self-esteem issues. It depends almost entirely on the approval of other people, something he has craved since he was young. He values the opinions of others more than he does his own, and they can easily influence his decisions. When caught between two differing opinions he will panic, lash out, and pick a side without considering the repercussions. Even if he knows what he's doing is wrong he will try to rationalize his actions (in the case of cutting down the trees, he tricked himself into believing that what he was doing was okay because it wasn't illegal – though he has done his fair share of illegal things fraud, forgery that he does regret). Despite this, he is not just a figurehead for the company. He exercises his power to make the final decision, which isn't always what the lawyers or PR people want it to be. In more personal social situations, the Once-ler is… horrifically awkward. He is actually more comfortable talking to strangers, people that he will probably never see again, than he is talking to friends and family. The Once-ler is so frightened of damaging the already fragile relationships he has he tries to avoid friendship altogether, telling himself that he's so busy he doesn't have time for it. The real reason he doesn't have friends is because he feels that if he gets too close to someone, they'll find some sort of fatal flaw and leave him. The friendships he does have he treats like they're made of glass. He has a tendency to shower his friends and family with gifts, because that's what makes people like you, right? Gifts? You should see his mother's jewelry box. When he somehow manages to make friends he is fiercely protective of them and sometimes a little clingy. In his spare time, the Once-ler likes to write and compose songs. Those songs he sang in the film? Most of them actually happened, backup chorus and everything. He tends to scribble down lyrics beforehand, but he is fully capable of coming up with them as he goes. Singing and playing the guitar are his favorite things to do (after making money, that is). He is a performer by nature, hence his ventures into things like music and magic tricks. Being in the spotlight doesn't bother him in the slightest. He's very energetic and passionate about everything he does and isn't afraid to show it. When you get to the bare bones of it, the Once-ler isn't a bad guy. He's not a true villain. He is friendly in general (if not a little condescending) and genuinely cares about what people have to say, though he can take things personally when they are definitely not meant to be. He loves to make people happy, hence the Thneed and all the song and dance numbers. The Once-ler is a loyal friend and a good shoulder to cry on (just don't ask him for advice, he's not so good at that). The previous paragraph is completely negated if you insult the company—but that won't last forever. Even after the tree falls, the Once-ler will grasp at straws to rationalize literally everything he has done, but will eventually regard the company—and himself—with an intense disdain. Of course he's going to hide his suffering behind that annoying mask of arrogance he wears and become startlingly bitter in the process, but so it goes. He plans to keep his "criminal" background, as well as his pain, a secret at the Keep for as long as he can. In terms of quirks, I couldn't really fit them into the above paragraphs, so here's a big list: the Once-ler can't sit still and is almost constantly moving his hands; he has an interest in engineering (he designed the Thneed factories and many of the harvesting machines); he occasionally gets so overwhelmed by conflicting emotions that he will lock himself in his office for hours on end and chain smoke cigars; his handwriting is very neat and large, signature illegible aside from a gigantic "O"; and sometimes he doesn't sleep for days, preferring to sit at his desk and… chain smoke cigars. He likes cigars. A lot. Appearance The Once-ler has 20/20 eyesight, but his eyes are sensitive to light, hence his sunglasses (cameras are pretty bright, you know). He has abnormally long eyelashes and brilliant sapphire blue eyes that the ladies dig. His eyes are a little sunken in after five stressful years as a CEO, and there are dark shadows beneath them. They’re a round shape, very large and very expressive when he’s not hiding behind tinted lenses. The Once-ler has got a cute little button nose and pouty lips that are… always pouting. His smile is naturally wide, and his teeth are mostly perfect after two years of braces. He keeps them very clean. Lots of smiling when you’re on camera all day! He’s got small ears that stick out a bit, so his hair is usually behind them. There’s a smattering of freckles across his nose. The Once-ler usually speaks at a normal pace with a good attempt at articulation. His speech gets faster and faster as he gets more and more angry and he often bares his teeth in a sneer. His face is overall very expressive, and sometimes he finds it difficult to hide his emotions. He keeps his teeth clenched at all times. His hair grows very slowly. It took him years to grow the majestic mustache he has at the end of the film. His hair is very thick, so he keeps it out of his eyes (otherwise he would be legitimately unable to see whatsoever). Does he use product? Fuck yes he does. You think his hair shines like that on its own? He's going to be so pissed when he finds the Keep has no conditioner. His height is a trait inherited from both parents (his mother is still pretty tall without her absurd hair, and his father was just plain big). He is 6’4” with a shoe size of 17. He had a growth spurt that started at age 14, shooting him from 5’7” to 6’4” by age 16. Most of his height is in his legs, which look even longer than they are because he wears his pants so high. His shoes have a 1” heel to make him even taller. The Once-ler is skinny. Everywhere. Skinny arms, skinny legs, skinny neck. Just, skinny. A better word would be lanky. He has somewhat wide-set shoulders in relation to his thin frame. A strong metabolism prevents him from gaining weight, which is bad, so he eats a lot. He struggles to stay healthy overall, especially after the polluted atmosphere and cigars. He takes a large assortment of vitamins throughout the day to keep himself healthy. He keeps a nutritionist and doctor on staff at all times. Whenever they tell him living in the factory is what’s causing a lot of his problems, he lashes out and ignores their advice. In terms of strength, he is very frail. When he was a dancer he was very fit, but that was a long, long time ago. Despite his weak immune system he has strong enough bones to last him a while. He has retained his excellent sense of balance and hand-eye coordination, but he makes it a point to keep impromptu dance numbers to a minimum. The Once-ler has excellent posture when standing, but when he sits down he either slouches in his chair or leans on his desk. He puts his feet up when he’s alone. He walks very quickly and often outpaces everyone, whether he wants to or not. Legs, man. He kind of has Yaoi Hands Syndrome in that they are fucking huge, but it’s justified in that he is also fucking huge. His fingers are long. He is primarily right-handed but is ambidextrous for some activities. He keeps his fingernails manicured and skin soft, though his fingers are covered in calluses. The Once-ler doesn’t crack his knuckles much, but when he does, it’s ungodly loud. He tends to make wide, sweeping gestures and is always doing something with his hands. Always. He’s one of those annoying people that drum their fingers on their desk ad nauseam until you want to bash in their face with a mace. It’s a habit he’s trying to break. Abilities, Skills and Talents The Once-ler has spent his entire life trying to impress his family, so over time, he has acquired more than a few talents. The Once-ler can sew and knit (his latest venture), sing, play the guitar (electric and acoustic), dance, do magic tricks (mostly dealing with sleight of hand) cook, draw, build (engineering, gears and the like), and write. He also has the incredible ability to play the electric guitar without an amp. The Once-ler is actually pretty good at these things, but he believes he isn't due to his mother's disinterest. He's also really, really tall. Like, 6'4". I consider this an ability. He can also blow smoke rings! Relationships NOPE Castmates WILL HE EVER HAVE CASTMATES?? Other Characters ZERO Category:Characters Category:Fandom Category:The Lorax